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Pee accidents

3K views 29 replies 11 participants last post by  neve 
#1 ·
I'm crate training my baby and most of the time she goes outside but a few times a week she is still peeing in my front office. She just did it today only ten minutes after I grabbed here sniffing there and took her outside. When I saw her sniffing I called her and ran in there but I was too late, that's happened a few times now.

I keep reading how other people's puppies had hardly any accidents and mine seems to have a lot of them! We have laminate flooring so cleanup is no big deal but she KNOWS to go outside, on the very first day she was walking to the back door and asking me. Not a single accident on day one.

Am I doing something wrong? I take her out to pee every time I let her out of the crate. I take her out twice during the night, 1am and 4am and wakeup/breakfast time is at seven. She does pee on command every time I take her outside and even poops on command sometimes too!

I know she's just a baby and can't always hold it, but sometimes she asks to go out and sometimes she goes in the front room. I tried blocking off that room and she just peed in front on the gate instead. She doesn't pee in the areas she spends the most time in so I also tried having her stay in that room with me while I worked.

She's nine weeks, any advice appreciated! I'm not sure how long potty training takes. She had three accident-free days this week and is now slipping again. Not sure if this is normal when so many people say their puppy only had one accident.
 
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#2 ·
How old is she? My best answer is keep the door closed or a baby gate up so she can't go in there. If you can't supervise keep behind a gate , expen, or crate.
Never mindd I see she is nine weeks. I would say your giving her to much freedom if she is in there without you. Pups have no bladder control until 12 weeks. Usually around 4 months they start consistantly asking to go out. Your pups way to young yet. Be patient it will come. Anyone telling you that their 9 week old pup is house trained is lying. They just watch them like a hawk.
 
#3 ·
She does like her freedom haha... it's not an easy area to close up it's a wide opening. the baby gate didn't fully cover it and I kept knocking it over. I tried tethering for all of five minutes I don't think she loved that. She also likes to sleep in the laundry or under the sofa table or kitchen bench, she hates being in the crate during the day (but it getting much better with it at night).
 
#5 ·
I watch her like a hawk too haha. I watched her walk in there and start sniffing my camera bag (a sign) and started calling her and getting out of my chair. In the 8 seconds or so it took me to get up and in there, she squatted. Just as I reached her. That's what is happening each time pretty much.
 
#6 ·
Most dogs become reliably clean in the house around 6 months of age. Until then, you have to watch them carefully and take them outside often. Your pup is only 9 weeks old - peeing in the house is perfectly normal at that age. She can't hold it at all, so the only way to avoid accidents is to take her out every half hour or so. You should start seeing some improvement around 12 weeks, and things will gradually get better after that. She should soon (in the next week or so) be capable of sleeping through the night if she's crated.

This is something you can't really rush. Some dogs will housetrain faster than others, but six months is a good general average.
 
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#9 ·
Thanks. That makes me feel better. I don't know what's normal I just keep reading about these accident-free pups. I take her out frequently but sometimes she can go an hour or two without peeing and sometimes it's twice in ten minutes. She sure does pee a lot! I was just worried that each accident was a setback.
 
#8 ·
Our puppy was mostly trained by 12 weeks or so but had occasional accidents for another 4-6 weeks after that - mostly when he was excited by a new toy or people, or if he was busy playing he'd sometimes have an accident while walking over to the door. We had some "happy pee" incidents up to about 6 months and we've been good since then. He's having stomach problems (colitis) and he broke himself out of his crate last week to have diarrhea in our kitchen with vinyl flooring, thank goodness! Much easier to wipe up the floor than to wash the dog!
 
#10 ·
I agree; She is way too young to expect her to be trained. Our girl is 17 weeks and she does great for weeks and then goes a day or so with a random accident here and there.


The xpen isn't bad and can be purchased on Amazon for less than $60.00. They're actually really awesome for giving puppy more freedom while still ensuring she/he is safe.
 
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#11 ·
I guess I wasn't sure because she really is smart and on first day was asking me to go out to pee which I thought was amazing. Now sometimes she asks and sometimes she forgets. Thought maybe she was being lazy or naughty. But sounds like she's just being a puppy lol.

I guess she won't be going on the carpeted level for quite a while yet. I admit I would kinda like to have her in bed with me :)

I'm definitely looking forward to less middle of the night outings. How will I know when I get cut that back to once a night then sleeping through the night? I don't want her having an accident in the crate because she wasn't ready. I'm not taking water away in the evening because it's been quite warm and it was making me uncomfortable doing it (I did try an ice cube but now I'm just leaving the water out).
 
#13 ·
I guess I wasn't sure because she really is smart and on first day was asking me to go out to pee which I thought was amazing. Now sometimes she asks and sometimes she forgets. Thought maybe she was being lazy or naughty. But sounds like she's just being a puppy lol.

I guess she won't be going on the carpeted level for quite a while yet. I admit I would kinda like to have her in bed with me :)

I'm definitely looking forward to less middle of the night outings. How will I know when I get cut that back to once a night then sleeping through the night? I don't want her having an accident in the crate because she wasn't ready. I'm not taking water away in the evening because it's been quite warm and it was making me uncomfortable doing it (I did try an ice cube but now I'm just leaving the water out).

Our girl cut herself back. She just stopped waking in the middle of the night and asking to go. If she was to wake today at 3AM, we'd take her still. I don't want to chance an accident and have her confused. You'll notice your puppy will go longer and longer at night without waking you to go potty. I am assuming she is crated at night?
 
#16 ·
I'm not an expert, but I can tell you with the puppies we've had over the years, their potty training time was all different. Our current puppy, Sandy, is 5 months old now. Her last accident in the house was only a couple weeks ago. It's becoming rare, but it happens. Some of her litter mates never have accidents - so their owners say...
 
#17 ·
I think you guys are right about her having too much freedom. I've just taken the stair gate off and doubled up the gates to block the front office. She might pee in front if it again but I have a better chance of stopping her when it's that much closer and within sight.
 
#19 ·
Definitely agree that at 9 weeks she just needs to be taken out every 30 minutes. I know it seems like as soon as you sit down you are back up again - but it will help with the accidents. Those that say their pup at this young are potty-trained (as mentioned above) really are just saying the owners are trained. HA! Also another thing you might find happening, is if you are outside playing and within a few minutes of coming back into the house they pee - it is because they really do not put playing outside with peeing outside in the same context. Once you come back inside after playing, count to 10 or 20 (don't let her out of your sight) and quietly pick her up and take her outside to potty. This will help save you some frustration wondering what the heck is going on. Since she is going for potty around 10:30pm, you might try just a 2am pee break. I go to bed early (9pm) so for us the first few weeks it was usually 2 times during the night. Or just rotate doing 1x 1 night and 2x the next night until you wean her off the breaks and she is able to last the night. Each day/week gets better and then suddenly you wake up one morning and realize they slept through the night. The first time it happened to me with our first puppy, I thought "Oh GOD-they must have died in their sleep", I rush in only to find them sleeping, or just sitting up waiting for me to take them out. HA! Good luck! We have all been there. :)
 
#20 ·
it's 10:22, she was playing like crazy all evening, I took her water away at nine but gave her a couple of ice cubes. I am thinking I will try a 2:30 pee break, just one tonight. I'm so sleep deprived. Last night I got to sleep after midnight and had to take her out at one!

A couple of nights last week I slept through my fitbit alarm, once for the 1am and once for the 4am and she survived that... then I set multiple alarms! Then this morning I slept right through my 7am alarm, oops. Husband had gotten up and taken her out and fed her. If he's going to do that he can **** well bring me coffee in bed like he used to!
 
#21 ·
You could try using pee pads, if you really have to recharge on the sleep. Once she's peed there once, she would want to go back to it. The only problem is if she realises that it is great chewing material. But also bear in mind that if you eventually want to teach to go outside, then you'll have to do some transitioning.

She's still young at 9 weeks! So I would just keep going with what you do, she'll learn it eventually! That's very nice of your husband by the way :)
 
#22 ·
She was doing SO well three days without a pee accident then last night she had one and tonight she went three in the living room right in front of us! Twice in an hour. In her play area where she's never had an accident before. That's not normal at all for her, should I be worried?

I've put her in her crate for the rest of the night, she seems to need a time out maybe her play time got her overexcited (it's cool out tonight and cold air gets her extra-active).

The past couple of nights I did just one pee-break during the night and that seemed ok. Tonight I'll probably do midnight and three as she's in bed early.

Hopefully she's just being a silly puppy but tonight was odd. Before she would wander off away from her main area for her 'accidents'.

She's almost ten weeks now. Getting too big for me to carry her!
 
#23 ·
If you are worried you can ask your vet to run a urine sample to make sure she doesn't have a UTI, but I wouldn't worry. She is still so young. It takes awhile.

We are at 18 weeks and still a work in progress but our girl had a horrible UTI when we brought her home at 8 weeks and it took four rounds of antibiotics and a culture before we got it under control. She has her last urine test this week, so fingers crossed.

Just be consistent and keep taking her out. Don't make the accidents in the house a big deal. If you catch her doing it just say "no" and quickly scoop her up and get her outside. Make sure that you clean the area well. I use Nature's Miracle and it works really well. But there are several enzymatic cleaners. If you leave any trace behind she will be attracted to it and go again.

Hang in there. She will get it. Time and patience.
 
#24 ·
She could have a UTI. But I also think you need to keep on a very tight schedule with her - every 30 minutes. She is still really young - so don't let it worry you. Just because she had a couple of good days, does not mean she is anywhere close to actually knowing what potty-trained is. I know for myself - the minute I started slacking off and pushing the time limit, that is usually when they had an accident. Just keep at it.
 
#25 ·
UTI is what I was wondering about, because this is definitely a backwards step for her.

The neighbours were in the backyard this morning and I was trying to get her to pee before taking her back inside for lunch but she was too distracted and wouldn't go. We took her in and she peed on the kitchen mat! A Costco padded one she often sleeps on. I was right next to her washing out a crisper so I could put the groceries away. She'd been outside for an hour with me.

I'm putting her in the crate a bit more now during the day to try and prevent accidents. It's super easy to clean them up I just don't like that she was doing so well before and is now going inside so much. It just makes me think something else might be wrong. She seems ok otherwise though.
 
#27 ·
I gave her a treat the other day but mostly I praise then a little game. I might do more treats, she loves them. I think maybe she was bored too so we took her for a car ride to see a new place and she has only had one accident since. None yesterday, I just take her out every time she wakes up and after every play, not even giving her a chance to go in the house. Maybe I'm getting better trained lol. I don't think she has an infection I think she was testing me or forgetting because she's improved again (or I have).

It is super annoying that a thunderstorm hits every evening when she's due for after dinner poop! Gah! Had to take her out in the hail yesterday. So her reward was getting to eat the hailstones :D
 
#28 ·
Took her to the vet today for her vaccine. Turns out she does have a UTI. I knew she was off today. So her shot has to wait another week and she's on special food and antibiotics. It was hard to know as she seemed to healthy, but today she pooped five times after breakfast and kept trying to pee with nothing coming out so I knew for sure something was up. Poor baby.
 
#30 ·
No she didn't say and I didn't ask, but after I wondered and googled. Seems they can just get them off the ground! She's mostly in her own backyard apart from a few short walks, she has met other dogs of course but really hasn't gotten umm... personal with them. Maybe a little sniff and play. The dog next door is old so maybe she picked it up straying into their yard? We've been keeping the two dogs apart for now as the old dog can no longer be vaccinated.

I really don't know, seems like they can pick them up pretty easily but maybe someone hear can enlighten us. I'd like to prevent her getting another one if possible. She doesn't have an 'innie' so it's not that. Yep I learned a little more than I really wanted too :D
 
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